The media has brought a lot of attention to the situation Flint, Michigan, residents face with unclean drinking water. It has many wondering if the tap water in the U.S. is safe. Yes, it is. Since the discovery of lead in Flint’s water, replacement of lead and galvanized steel water lines has been an ongoing process. More than a dozen people were also charged with causing or adding to the water crisis.

The truth is that the U.S. has about 155,000 public water systems. Each one undergoes regular testing to ensure water quality. Water quality in the U.S. is outstanding thanks to laws and regulations that have been enacted or improved upon since the 1970s. Here’s a closer look at some of these improvements and how water becomes safe for drinking.

The History of Public Water Systems

The nation’s first water system came about in the 1770s. Hans Christopher Christiansen helped change the history of water systems by creating a public water system in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

By the end of the 1700s, Providence, Rhode Island, and New York City joined the list. Rhode Island brought in water deliveries from private companies. New York City had used private wells, but those polluted wells lost favor and created the Manhattan Company for public water. It would take until 1842 that NYC started tapping into the Croton River for water supplies.

As the years passed, it became clear that water was a leading reason for the spread of disease. By the end of the 1800s, cities were using sand filters or chemicals to clean water. The first drinking water standards came out in 1914. The Service Drinking Water Standards set limits on the number of bacteria allowed in water supplies. Within a year, chlorine was being used to disinfect water.

With the change to water quality, diseases linked to drinking water sharply declined. WWII came and brought about the use of organic chemicals that were making it into water sources. The Safe Drinking Water Act passed in 1974 and required that public water sources be tested to ensure contaminants fell below the levels required by the EPA.

Steps Taken to Bring Clean Water to Homes

The Safe Drinking Water Act requires water to be tested regularly. Water tests look for more than 90 items. If the contaminants are not lower than the EPA or state’s minimum standards, the water system fails and the public is told to stop using the water until the problem is found and resolved. Those tests look for things like:

• Bacteria – E-coli, fecal coliform, and legionella are a few that are tested.
• Disinfection chemicals – Examples are bromate (may cause cancer) or chlorite (increases the risk of anemia)
• Inorganic chemicals – Many are checked and include things like arsenic, cyanide, and lead
• Organic chemicals – Examples are Benzene (may cause anemia) and PCBs (increases the risk of cancer)
• Radionuclides – Cancer-causing materials like uranium

Multiple steps are taken to bring clean water to a home or business. It starts with the water source. That water source could be a reservoir, river, lake, or pond. Water is drawn from the water source to the water treatment plant. Screw pumps control the rate at which water enters a water treatment plant. Once the water is at the plant, several steps take place.

#1 – Screening

Screening is a process where larger items like leaves, trash, sticks, etc. are filtered and removed using a screen rake. Those items can then be composted or sent to a landfill. It’s an important step as larger items could damage equipment if it’s not screened and removed.

#2 – Clarification/Flocculation

Clarification systems continue the filtration process to bring you to clean water. Sludge falls to the bottom of the tank where a scraper pushes it to the sludge sump where it can be pumped out.

For solids that float the surface, such as oils, skimmers at the surface of the water take care of those. Chemical additives act as a binder to get these materials to clump together in a process known as flocculation. Flocculation paddles mix the chemicals with the water to ensure it’s mixed well.

#3 – Disinfection

Disinfection is the final step. For any bacteria or microorganisms that survived the other steps, chemicals like chlorine are added to kill them off. UV lighting and reverse osmosis systems can also help disinfect the water. From there, it goes into storage tanks or to homes and businesses.

Choosing the Right Water Treatment System Requires Experience

Lakeside Equipment started helping cities and towns create water purification systems back in 1928, long before the government passed the Safe Water Drinking Act. That’s a long history in the business of water treatment system design and installation.

Today, Lakeside Equipment assists with the design, installation, and repairs of water treatment systems in North America. The single goal of providing clean, safe water has never changed. Call us at 630-837-5640 to discuss your water treatment project.

Automation in a wastewater treatment plant delivers a number of benefits that help your bottom line, the communities you serve, and the environment. Have you stopped to consider the different ways that automation could be used without your facility?

Water & Wastes Digest reports that about 25% of the wastewater processed in U.S. treatment plants is released without being treated. Torrential rains and flooding are reasons wastewater may be released without treatment. Equipment failures and leaking pipes and lines are other reasons. Automation is key in stopping these issues from occurring.

Ten Benefits Automation Brings to Wastewater Treatment

How does automation benefit a wastewater treatment plant? Here are the top ten reasons you should consider automating your facility.

Aids in Quality Control

You can use automation to boost quality control. When you have an automated system checking oxygen levels and ensuring the water that’s released meets or even exceeds the limits set forth by the EPA, you have the perfect partner in quality control.

When anything is wrong, the system alerts you. You can go to your computer and make adjustments as needed. The workers in those areas can shut down equipment if maintenance is needed to correct a problem before it gets out of control. Issues are taken care of quickly and correctly.

Constant Creation of Helpful Data

Automation establishes the data your facility needs to cut expenses, improve the treatment process, and maximize your manpower. The data can show positive gains or negative ones. Use the negative information to make improvements and fuel growth. Use the positive to present what’s working well with your stakeholders.

You’ll also get much-needed insight into changes in flow rates. You’ll learn when people in the municipality use the most water, when things are slow, and what adjustments can be made during these peaks. Use all of this data to achieve the other benefits gained from the use of automation, such as improving water quality, efficiency, and lowering expenses.

Diagnoses Possible Issues in Advance

When you have an automated system, you learn about possible issues in advance. There are warning systems and alarms to let you know when a machine isn’t working properly. If flow rates or water quality drastically change, the system alerts you. You may need to increase the pump speeds or increase aeration.

Improves Efficiency

The UN reports that 2.3 billion people live in areas where over 25% of the freshwater sources have been withdrawn. About 17% live in agricultural regions facing severe water shortages.

When you incorporate automation into your wastewater treatment plant, water treatment processes become more efficient. The U.S. has dozens of pollutants that are classified as toxic. When a plant has wastewater that contains those toxins, it cannot release the wastewater into the sewers. They must first treat that industrial wastewater. It’s an expensive undertaking.

Automated machines can separate the sludge and water. The sludge can then be removed and the water is able to go on for additional treatment. You end up separating a larger percentage of water from the solids so that more of the water goes back into the lakes, rivers, or storage tanks for reuse.

Increases a Plant’s Capacity

In the U.S., plants process more than 34 billion gallons of wastewater every day. When a plant is operating efficiently, it saves money. That money can be used to grow the plant’s capacity. In Ohio, one plant updated older equipment with automated control systems. That change increased the plant’s capacity from 53 million gallons per day to 70 million.

When your plant has a larger capacity, it lowers the risk of an overflow of raw sewage. Per the EPA, these fines start at $2,500 per day and go up to $100,000 daily.

Lessens the Need for Chemicals

Chemical additives are used to kill any remaining bacteria in the water. When you use chemicals like chlorine, they must evaporate from the water before it can be released to the environment or returned to the city’s water supply.

If you have an efficient wastewater treatment system with optimized aeration, the air bubbles create the oxygen needed for the bacteria to do their job effectively. They’ll remove more of the harmful contaminants, reducing the need for chemical additives.

Modernizes Older Equipment

Even if you cannot afford to upgrade all of your wastewater facility’s equipment, an automated system helps the equipment you have work as efficiently as possible. You can use data gathered from the automated control system to decide where your money is best spent on upgrades. It might be a pump one year and a grit removal system another.

Step by step, you can modernize your plant and end up with the most efficient wastewater treatment plant possible.

Optimizes Facility Staffing

Automation can do things that people used to do. That’s not a bad thing. You can redesignate your workers to other areas of the plant to perform more important tasks. Instead of sitting and watching wastewater coming out of a pipe to see if there is a change in the flow rate, your employees could be engaged in more meaningful activities like inspecting, maintaining, and cleaning equipment.

Provides Real-Time Visibility

When your plant is automated, you have a constant stream of real-time data at your fingertips. You know if flow rates are increasing or decreasing during certain hours, on specific days, or during specific months. You can use the information to make data-driven decisions.

Suppose you’re seeing an increased flow rate that has put you near capacity several times. You could use this information to discuss the need for an expansion in your district. When you lay out the cost of expansion vs. the potential fines you face if you release untreated sewage, the expansion becomes a necessity that the district can’t argue against.

Reduces Energy Consumption and Costs

Finally, when you have an efficient wastewater treatment system, it reduces your energy consumption. That lowers your monthly expenditures. Tests show that automation can reduce energy consumption by 30% without needing to replace older equipment or reduce the water quality.

An Expert in Wastewater Treatment Can Help You Design the Best System and Upgrades Plan

The Sharp Biological Nutrient Removal (SharpBNR) process control system is an energy-efficient automated system. It has system status and alarm functions that you can adjust from a computer or the HMI. You can also connect it to a SCADA system for comprehensive efficient operations. Monitor Dissolved Oxygen and Oxygen Reduction Potential and have the system adjust aeration as needed.

That’s just a small sampling of all that an automated system allows you to do. Contact Lakeside Equipment to talk to an expert. Discuss your goals and your budget, and let our team help you decide the best steps to take.

What is grit? It’s the particles of sand and silt that end up in wastewater. It could be sand and gravel that’s spread to give traction on icy roads. It could be the dirt and sand you wash off your hands after doing some gardening or yard work. It can be coffee grounds, foods that go through a garbage disposal, or seeds.

When grit gets into wastewater treatment equipment, it’s destructive. It can wear down the mechanical components. It can lead to partial blockages that affect the water flow to digester tanks. Grit can end up costing a company too much money in repairs, replacements, and slowed processing.

How do you get rid of grit in the wastewater you’re processing. A grit removal system is ideal. You need one that works effectively and is designed to last.

How Grit Removal Works

As wastewater enters a water treatment plant, screens catch larger materials like sticks, trash, and plastics. The screens get finer as the wastewater flows through the plant, but sand and silt keep passing through.

There are different types of grit removal systems. To find the right system, you have to look at the type of grit you frequently process. Your options are:

• Aerated Grit Chamber – Wastewater is forced to flow in a spiral rotation and particles that are heavier than the water sink to a bottom tank.
• Detrius Tank – This is a square tank where a mechanical rake continually scrapes grit from the bottom of the tank and drags it to an auger where it is removed.
• Horizontal Flow – A horizontal flow grit chamber is one of the first types of grit removal systems. As the water flows horizontally, the grit settles to the bottom of the channel where it is scraped away or lifted out using conveyors or a bucket elevator system.
• Hydrocyclone – Water is forced into a cyclone that forces the grit along the sides and bottom of the chamber.
• Vortex-Type Grit Chamber – Wastewater flows through a cylindrical tank creating a vortex. Gravity forces heavier grit to the bottom of the tank where it is pumped out.

There are pros and cons to each system. Aerated grit chambers allow for differing flow rates. You can also start adding chemicals to them.

Horizontal flow grit chambers allow you to adjust the flow. Hydrocyclone systems can remove solids and grit at the same time.

Vortex-type grit chambers are better at removing fine grit. They don’t have parts or bearings that sit below the level of the water, so they last longer and need less maintenance. The systems are also smaller and take up less space. Similarly, detritus tanks also have all mechanical components above the water.

With any of these systems, if the raking system is not mechanical, you’ll spend more time keeping them clean. Aerated grit chambers can be smellier. Plus, they often take more power to operate.

Detrius tanks do not allow you to control the water flow. If you install this in a shallow area, you may find grit gets through more often. Horizontal flow grit chambers also can be difficult to control the flow rate. Bearings and other equipment are underwater and can wear out more quickly.

Vortex-type systems with paddles may end up with debris caught on the paddles if anything gets through wastewater screening. Grit pumps can also clog frequently. They also need more space because they are deep.

What Types of System Do You Need?

When deciding which grit collection system is best for your needs, carefully weigh the amount of space you have, how fast the water flows, and how much grit you typically have in the wastewater. Lakeside Equipment sells several systems.

Aeroductor Grit Removal System – Grit is washed and collected at the bottom of the chamber where it is then pumped out. There are no underwater parts, which helps prevent excessive maintenance. It’s also meant to last thanks to the stainless steel construction.

Grit Classifier – The Grit Classifier is paired with the Aeroductor or SpiraGrit. It processes the grit that leaves the grit removal system and sends any overflow back to the water treatment system.

H-PAC – The H-PAC system pairs with wastewater screening systems and the vortex-type grit chamber to create a system that screens the wastewater and removes grit for less money at high flow rates. It takes less space and is affordable.

In-Line Grit Collector – This is an affordable system that’s all-in-one. It has the chamber where grit settles after it’s been aerated. A grit screw removes the grit.

Raptor Grit Washer – Using vortex forces and gravity, grit is collected and washed. It can work with several flow rates, and usually removes around 90% of the grit that enters the system. The system is smaller and doesn’t take up a lot of space.

SpiraGrit Vortex Grit Removal – If you have varying flows and need as much grit removed as possible, the SpiraGrit is a good choice. Its stainless steel design resists corrosion, and there are no underwater bearings to help with maintenance costs. It also takes up less space than other systems.

Call Lakeside Equipment to talk about your water treatment plant’s goals. We can help you design a grit removal system that boosts your processing times while providing a system that is designed to maximize grit removal. We can also help with replacement parts and service. Give us a call at 630-837-5640.

Have you ever wondered how wastewater treatment is completed around the world? Only 56% of wastewater around the world went through safe water treatment steps before its release into rivers, lakes, etc. It’s estimated that 80% of the world’s wastewater never goes through any treatment. It’s the United Nations’ goal to improve the rate of wastewater treatment by 2030.

Treating wastewater correctly is essential for preventing disease. Hepatitis A is just one of many diseases that can be contracted through exposure to untreated wastewater. E. Coli, Encephalitis, Giardiasis, Poliomyelitis, Salmonellosis, and Typhoid Fever are examples of others, though there are dozens of viruses that people can get when swimming or bathing in infected waters.

In the United States, wastewater treatment is a multi-stage process. Wastewater flows into a plant through sewer lines or is trucked in after being pumped from residential septic tanks.

Most wastewater districts start by screening wastewater to remove debris like plastic wrappers, toys, animals, bone fragments, and personal care products. Those items are removed and sent to landfills. Grit removal takes out smaller particles like coffee grounds and sand.

Pumps transfer wastewater to the next stage where the wastewater is aerated using bubblers to provide oxygen to the mixture. From here, it moves into sedimentation tanks where sludge sinks to the bottom for removal and processing in digesters. Oils and fats rise to the top and are raked from the surface where they join sludge in digesters.

The materials in digesters are processed for weeks to remove bacteria, odors, and disease-causing organisms. Once the material has been in digesters for enough time, it’s hauled to landfills or dried to use as fertilizer in areas like national forests.

Some cities use filtration through substances like coconut fibers or carbon to help clean the majority of the bacteria from the remaining wastewater. What’s left goes to tanks where chemicals, such as chlorine, are added to kill any remaining bacteria.

Once this is done, it may sit in tanks for exposure to UV lighting that removes excessive chlorine. When the chlorine reaches the required levels for release, wastewater is pumped from tanks into local bodies of water like rivers and lakes.

That’s a quick look at the stages of wastewater treatment in the U.S. Our nation’s wastewater treatment plants benefit from modern technology and computer systems that help control flow rates, check water quality throughout each stage of wastewater treatment, and lower energy costs. How is wastewater treated in other countries?

Ecuador

Ecuador is one of South America’s wealthier countries, but almost 75% of the water sources below 9,186 feet are polluted. The reason is tied to wastewater that goes untreated. It’s estimated that only 10% of the wastewater generated undergoes treatment before being discharged to the Daule-Guayas River.

To stop this level of pollution from continuing, the city of Guayaquil asked for a line of credit and assistance from other countries to improve the sewer system and wastewater treatment plant’s infrastructure. The plans are to connect around 30,000 homes and apartments to the current sewer system. Improving the La Chala sewer to prevent leaks and adding a pumping station to the existing treatment plant are other project goals. Goals are to complete the project within three years.

Ethiopia

Ethiopia’s wastewater treatment goals are unique in that the country is very hot and arid. About six out of ten homes have toilets, but many of these toilets pipe directly to a backyard pit latrine.

With a population of over 61 million people, the country’s biggest concern is having enough water. In 2021, plans to build a chemical-free wastewater and sludge treatment plant that would recycle wastewater to homes in Addis Ababa, the capital city. Once completed, the plant will be able to process almost 4,000 gallons per day.

India

If you think of countries that are underserved by wastewater treatment, India likely comes to mind. In 2016, about 38,000 million liters of wastewater were generated per day, but only 31.5% of that wastewater was treated properly. The steps taken in wastewater treatment are the same as those used in the U.S., but there are several other issues that arise. One is that half of all Indian homes lack working toilets. For those that do, their wastewater travels into sewage systems that are poorly staffed and lack skilled workers.

Even if cities have wastewater treatment plants, wastewater ends up being discharged prior to treatment due to poor operation and maintenance processes due to staffing issues and poorly trained operators. Frequent power interruptions add to the issues. Some towns and cities simply cannot afford to build and run wastewater treatment systems.

Japan

While Japan has more than 200 inhabited islands, most of the country’s 126.4 million people live on one of the four main islands.

• Honshu – The largest with a population of 104 million and home to Tokyo, the island’s capital and largest city.
• Hokkaido – The second largest with a population of over 5 million with Sapporo being both the capital and the island’s largest city.
• Kyushu – The third largest island has more than 14 million residents. Fukuoka is the largest city on the island with over 1.6 million residents.
• Shikoku – This is the smallest of the four major islands with a population of over 4 million. The largest city on this island is Matsuyama, which has just over half a million residents.

The risk of earthquakes, flooding during tsunamis, and proximity to water make wastewater treatment an urgency. The Sewerage Law of Japan lays forth strict criteria that prefectures must abide by when it comes to building homes and businesses, connecting new households to sewer systems, and setting up packaged aerated wastewater treatment systems known as johkasous or small-scale sewage systems in rural areas.

Kobe City has a public sewer system connecting to six wastewater treatment plants that serve 98.7% of the population. During the treatment process, biogas is captured and distributed to homes and businesses in the region through Osaka Gas.

Just outside of Tokyo, the city of Saitama serves about 92% of its residents through a wastewater treatment plant. The remaining 8% rely on a johkasou. Sludge removal is a primary step in wastewater treatment. As Japan has little space for landfills, sludge must be transported to sludge treatment plants in Japan where it is processed and recycled as plant fertilizer.

Saitama does one more thing to help the island’s natural resources. About 70% of the city’s water comes from area rivers. With climate change and population changes impacting water supplies, the area’s wastewater and storm runoff are collected, processed, and cleaned at the Saitama Shintoshin Purification plant. Once clean, the water is returned to homes and businesses through pipelines.

For a wastewater treatment plant to work effectively and efficiently, plant owners and managers need to make sure equipment is maintained regularly and upgraded when possible. It’s not advantageous to wait until pumps break down or equipment fails.

Talk to Lakeside Equipment about your plant’s equipment, capacity, and age. Our experts can help you better understand the ways you can boost efficiency and ensure your system doesn’t fail as weather patterns and populations change.

When wastewater reaches a water treatment plan from a sewer or truck that transports septic system wastewater, it goes through two main stages. Each stage has several steps. It starts with screening and a trip through the grit chamber and into the sedimentation tank. The second stage involves more filtering, disinfecting, and, possibly, dechlorination.

That’s just wastewater treatment. There are also processes specific to hydropower plants and factories like steel mills or pulp/paper mills. Each one requires water to be treated before it’s returned to the rivers, lakes, and oceans nearby. Each one involves screening to remove debris that could damage the pumps and other treatment equipment.

Screening is a critical first step. There are items in wastewater that can create blockages and damage water treatment equipment. Items like tampon applicators, diaper liners, sanitary pads, baby wipes, and condoms are not meant to be flushed. People do it anyway.

In a hydroelectric plant, a storm or high winds can send leaves, branches, and entire trees into the waterways. That’s why screening is an important first step in any of these industries.

How Does Screening Work?

As water enters a treatment plant or other facility, it goes through a variety of stainless steel screens. The size of the screening determines what the screen filters. You have wide screening to catch sticks, branches, and items like water bottles, soda cans, and plastic bags. Water is able to flow through, but the debris cannot.

As the size of the screens decreases, it catches smaller particles and items. Finer screen products can capture sludge, grease clumps, and other solids. Screens are paired with rakes that remove the materials from the screens to prevent clogging.

Wastewater enters the first screen and materials are caught on the screening. When the water level is high enough, the trash rake moves over the screen to remove the debris. This keeps water flowing through the screens. After the rake finishes its pass, the debris is moved to a collection bin. The trash rake makes a second pass where the rake is cleaned and readied for the next pass.

Debris is moved from the collection bin on a conveyor where it is washed and moved to a debris container. From the debris container, that debris could go to an incinerator, landfill, or composting area.

What Happens After Screening?

One thing screens cannot capture is the fine sand and grit that finds its way into wastewater. Sand from winter road maintenance, silt from rivers, and other fine materials pass the screens and settle into the bottom of the grit chamber where it can be removed.

At this point, there can still be tiny particles. They are processed in a sedimentation tank where they’ll combine to form solids that are removed through pumps. Sludge from sedimentation tanks may be processed into fertilizer pellets.

By the time the next stage of treatment starts, around 85 percent of the organic materials in wastewater have been removed. To remove the rest, it may be filtered through layers of stone or materials where bacteria consume the organic matter. The other option is to move the water into a tank where the wastewater is aerated and mixed with bacteria that will break down the rest of the matter. The remaining liquid is aerated again and pumped to a new tank where it will be mixed with chlorine to kill off any remaining bacteria.

In most states, it’s required now that the chlorine is removed before the water is returned to bodies of water to prevent harm to the plants and fish. If chlorine is not used to disinfect, ozone or UV lighting are used instead.

The treated water may end up back in watersheds where it is recycled as water that is piped to homes and businesses in nearby towns and cities. Before it can be sent back to homes, it is tested to make sure it is safe for consumption.

How Big or Small Are These Water Treatment Screens?

Lakeside Equipment sells Raptor Screening products. Rotary Strainer Screens are in a cylinder that sits horizontally. The wire openings start at 1/10^th of an inch down to 1/100^th of an inch for fine screening.

The Fine Screen can capture solids and organic materials in a cylindrical basket. There’s a Rotating Drum Screen that ranges from 1/4^th inch to 1/50^th inch in size. We also have trash rakes and other water treatment parts and equipment options.

Those are some of the options that can help you remove waste. Talk to our specialists to learn more and come up with the best screening products for your business’s or plant’s needs. Contact us to let us know how we can help.

Hurricane Ian destroyed so many beaches, businesses, and homes across Florida. As the storm was slated to hit the Tampa Bay area and then ended up hitting farther south, people weren’t always prepared and didn’t always have the time to evacuate. That’s just one area of concern with changing weather patterns.

The storm surge and heavy rains lead to power outages and raw sewage flooded out of sewers and wastewater treatment plants, releasing untreated sewage into rivers and streets. Bradenton’s wastewater treatment plant reported having to release millions of gallons of wastewater into the Manatee River. Orlando released tens of thousands of gallons of wastewater before it was fully treated. In Miami, thousands of gallons bubbled up from the sewers.

Hurricane Ian’s rainfall almost reached two feet by the time it left the western coastline. No one was prepared for that amount of rainfall, followed by a substantial storm surge. It has raised awareness that the infrastructure in Florida is not prepared for these massive storms. How prepared is your wastewater treatment plant?

Take a Close Look at Your Infrastructure

One of the problems affecting Florida’s sewers and wastewater treatment facilities is outdated piping. Some of the pipes are made from cast iron and are corroding. Until the 1970s, some districts used piping known as Orangeburg, which was a compressed wood fiber with a water-resistant adhesive, and coal tar.

Orangeburg was affordable, but it was only intended to last for 50 years. The problem is, some of the piping failed within 10 years. In some areas of Florida, Orangeburg piping is still being used. As cities bring homeowners on septic systems to sewer systems, the changeovers are made, but it takes time and money.

Florida isn’t the only place in the nation that needs to stop and take a closer look at its infrastructure. Northern Virginia is working on a project to install a two-mile sewer tunnel that goes under the Potomac River to try to stop the release of untreated wastewater going into the river. Alexandria, Virginia, only has one main sewer pipe for stormwater and sewage, and it causes serious issues. Cities like Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and Seattle, Washington, are working on similar upgrades.

Get a better picture of just how many systems are facing similar problems. Here are some of the most important facts from the 2021 Infrastructure Report Card.

• Over 16,000 wastewater treatment plants in the U.S. are operating at 81% of their systems’ capacities.
• Around 15% of them have exceeded capacity.
• Wastewater treatment plans typically have a lifespan of 40 to 50 years.
• The nation’s underground piping bringing wastewater to treatment plants or clean drinking water to homes and businesses is an average of 45 years old and has a lifespan of 50 to 100 years.
• Older piping is a problem as cracks and fractures allow stormwater and groundwater to seep into the sewer pipes, increasing the flow entering a facility, which puts more demand on the system’s equipment.
• One out of five Americans rely on a septic tank, and the liquids and solids from those tanks are hauled to an area wastewater treatment plant, so every American relies on their area’s wastewater treatment plant.

The importance of a wastewater treatment system extends to every corner of the nation. Yet if you look at the burden of the cost of the necessary upgrades between 1977, when the government’s capital investment was 63%, and today, it’s concerning. In 2017, the federal government’s capital investment was down to 9%. President Biden signed an infrastructure bill that’s an important first step in making improvements, but there’s a lot of work to do.

With the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, $15 billion is earmarked for the replacement of lead water pipes. States are also given funding for water projects, so it’s important to look into what’s available in your state’s revolving loan fund. Total wastewater grants and funding include:

• $75 million for information sharing regarding water infrastructure and water quality
• $100 million for wastewater efficiency grants
• $125 million for system resilience
• $200 for new sewer system connections to help move some areas from septic systems to area sewers
• $250 million for new installations, repairs, or replacements of septic systems
• $1.4 billion for measures to control and treat sewer and stormwater-related overflows

What should you be doing? It’s time to take a closer look at your equipment. Just how quickly can it work? Does it require someone to be onsite for changes or is it automated? Is your equipment pretty trouble-free or does it require frequent maintenance?

Another question to ask is where stormwater runoff goes. In older districts, there is a chance that stormwater runoff is channeled to wastewater treatment plants. This isn’t as common, but it still does happen around the U.S. If there are flooding rains and the stormwater rushes to a wastewater treatment plant, it can pose serious issues with untreated wastewater being released. Separating those systems should be a consideration.

In your district, what piping is being used? What is the capacity of the equipment in your treatment plant? Are your stormwater run-off and wastewater treatment systems connected? If there is a massive flood or unheard-of levels of storm surge, are you prepared? If not, it’s time to consider what you can do to be prepared.

The Florida Keys Shows the Importance of Change

The Florida Keys spent around $1 billion upgrading their wastewater and stormwater systems. They installed sealed pipes to prevent stormwater from getting into the sewers. Their wastewater equipment was upgraded with a treatment system for nitrogen removal to help prevent algal blooms and the wastewater treatment plant’s cleaned water was released 3,000 feet below ground instead of at the surface.

That system seemed to do well. After the flooding from 2017’s Hurricane Irma, no sewage spills occurred. In the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Pollution Notice Report, no mention of the Keys was made after Hurricane Ian.

If your system hasn’t been upgraded lately, it’s a good time to consider making improvements. Not only can you install upgrades that save on energy consumption, but you can use grants to add solar panels or wind turbines to reduce your demand on the power grid. Burning the methane produced in your plant for heat is another great upgrade.

From Raptor Complete Plant systems to grit collectors and trash rakes to open and enclosed screw pumps, Lakeside Equipment can help you upgrade older equipment to handle higher capacities. We offer SharpBNR process control systems to ensure your facility meets its goals. Many times, the money you save on energy bills or by avoiding EPA fines pays for the system in little time.

Lakeside Equipment provides cost-effective wastewater, hydroelectricity, and water treatment equipment for your municipal and industrial needs. Our experts have been helping deliver cleaner water since 1928. Reach out to our team to discuss how we can help you save money and ensure you’re meeting your community’s water treatment goals.

According to the World Energy Council, water supplied 71% of the world’s renewable energy in 2016. Hydropower stations generate electricity by capturing the energy from flowing water. That water may be flowing in a river or from a reservoir. It works like this:

1. Water rushes from a high point to a low point. A dam or natural incline of a waterfall can create those high and low points.
2. As the water falls, it forces the blades of a turbine to spin. The action of the turbine converts the falling water’s energy into a mechanical form of energy.
3. Generators that are connected to the turbines take that mechanical energy and convert it into electricity.
4. Power lines send the electricity from the generators to homes and businesses.

There’s one more aspect to this that’s essential to proper operations. The water entering the turbine can’t be filled with trash. The EPA believes around 80 percent of the trash found on beaches came from the land. Much of it is food packaging and beverage cans and bottles. When that trash and recycling finds its way into rivers and into hydroelectric power stations, it can damage equipment and impede water flow.

Is That Much Trash Really in Our Waterways?

The amount of trash and debris in rivers is astounding. In 2010, the Great Mississippi River Cleanup began. In less than a decade, volunteers have already removed more than 513,000 pounds of trash and recycling from the river.

Each year, Riverkeeper Sweep volunteers clean up trash from the shores of the Hudson River in New York. In 2018, 38 tons of trash was removed.

Where does all this trash come from? Trash may fly out of a truck bed when it’s not secured. Some flies out of open car windows on a gusty day. It can be deliberately tossed out. People may not properly dispose of food packages after a picnic. Wind can blow it from recycling containers and dumpsters that are not closed. To prevent this from happening, consumers need to be careful about disposing items and reusing packaging as much as possible.

You also have the debris that naturally ends up in waterways. An old tree on the bank of a river may fall in after a storm. Branches may snap off trees after an ice storm and end up in a river. Leaves that fall off the trees in the fall will end up in some of the nation’s rivers. That debris is biodegradable, but it can clog the screens on water intake pipes at hydroelectric plants and cause problems.

How Do Hydroelectric Plants Keep the Trash Out?

There are two components to trash and debris removal at a hydropower station. Trash or bar racks are metal screens placed over a water intake pipe. These metal grids prevent things like fallen branches, trash, and recyclable containers from going into the pipe connected to a turbine.

Those screens need to be cleared from time to time. That’s the job of a hydropower trash rake. The rake removes the debris and trash from the screen automatically. This keeps the screen clear so that operations are not impeded.

If the screen is not cleaned, air bubbles can get in and damage the turbine. Low water pressure is all it takes for the air bubbles to form It could be from a blocked screen or low water levels in a river or reservoir. To prevent pockmarks in the turbine blades and the vibrations that can come with it, the plant must shut down and wait until water flow is corrected. This can cause power outages for people served by that plant.

Hydropower trash rakes can work quickly. Catronic Series Trash Rakes clear a 200-foot section at depths of up to 100 feet. The ability to lift up to 20 tons makes it a powerful system for removing fallen trees from trash racks. The hydropower trash rake can work automatically or with someone operating the system and manually removing logs, trash, and other forms of debris.

What does your hydroelectric power station need to keep equipment in prime condition and working efficiently? The professionals at Lakeside Equipment Corporation can help you find the perfect solution. Call 630-837-5640 or email sales@lakeside-equipment.com for more information.

What is inorganic material in wastewater? Human waste, food scraps, and plants are organic in nature. They break down easily. Some materials that make their way into wastewater are not organic and do not decompose. Inorganic materials include soaps, nitrates, chlorides, phosphates, heavy metals, etc.

Some of the inorganics found in wastewater include cadmium, copper, lead, and mercury (heavy metals). They can come from older homes with copper piping and lead solder. There are non-metallic salts like arsenic and selenium. They can come from manufacturing plants, improperly disposed cleaning products, paints, and items like deicing products that are picked up in stormwater run-off when sewers and stormwater drains are connected.

Wastewater inorganics require careful removal to get them out of the wastewater before it’s released back to bodies of water or water treatment plants for community water supplies. What are the best ways to remove them?

Start With Trash and Screen Rakes

Wastewater is 99.9% water and 0.1% organic matter, inorganic matter, and microorganisms.  It’s that 0.1% that wastewater treatment plants must remove before releasing it to rivers, ponds, lakes, or oceans or a water treatment plant that serves a community.

Some inorganic materials in wastewater may be large enough to remove using screens. This includes things that never should have been flushed or allowed to get down the sink, such as plastic tampon applicators, jewelry, condoms, toys, and plastic wrappers.

A screen will capture those items before they get into the wastewater treatment stages. Trash rakes remove them from the screens to ensure wastewater flow isn’t impeded. Screens can start with a large mesh and get smaller to ensure items of varying sizes are captured in this process. All of these items can then go to landfills for proper disposal.

Sequencing Batch Reactors Are Essential in a Wastewater Treatment Plan

A Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) offers a continuous feed process to help with the removal of nitrogen and phosphorus. Using aeration, oxygen helps break down organics. As the wastewater is aerated, microorganisms get to work feeding on nitrogen/nitrates and producing sulfate. Some wastewater treatment plants can capture methane produced during wastewater treatment and use it for heat

Sludge (solid materials) sinks to the bottom and can go to landfills or be turned into fertilizer for forests and fields. Sludge pumps are used to help get the sludge out of the tanks.

Enhance Your Systems Precision and Stability With SharpBNR

Your plant has workers, but it’s hard to predict how a day will go. Heavy rainfall, holidays, and even the pandemic can change how much wastewater flows from area homes and businesses. During the pandemic, more people worked from home and school children stayed home. People were home and using the toilet and sinks all day, which changed peak hours for higher flow rates.

There will be moments when flow rates increase and decrease. A SharpBNR control system continuously monitors for fluctuations and adjusts equipment to maintain proper operation. If there are issues that require human intervention, alerts go out.

Industrial Plants Should Consider Treating Their Wastewater Before It Goes to Sewers

If there are several industrial plants in your district, it’s time to consider having them put in water treatment equipment that pre-treats the factory’s wastewater before it goes to the sewer lines.

Package treatment plants are a great solution for industrial companies. The all-in-one plant includes screening, aeration, clarification, disinfection, and sludge removal in one tank. It’s an easily installed single system that doesn’t require a lot of space, making it ideal for established plants.

Explore the Pros and Cons of the Most Popular Removal Methods

1. Adsorption

Polymeric adsorbents are one option for removing inorganic matter from wastewater. They’re generally low-cost and do a good job of removing heavy metals and balancing pH levels. Some of the most popular polymeric adsorbents include clay, zeolites (aluminosilicates often used in dietary supplements), and nanometal oxides.

Using the same process, there is ongoing research regarding the cellular structure of algae to help remove inorganic materials. Algae feed on nitrogen and phosphorus to grow. As algae grow steadily, they can become useful in other areas like algal biofuel.

2. Bioelectrochemical

One area that’s gaining interest is bioelectrochemical systems. The energy present in organic matter becomes useful in generating power that oxidizes the pollutants. As contaminants are removed, electricity is generated. That electricity can change heavy metals like chromium from a soluble state to an insoluble one, making it easier to remove. With this process, denitrification can occur at a lower cost than some of the other methods.

3. Chemical Precipitation

One option for treating inorganic materials is to add a chemical reagent to remove inorganics. This isn’t an ideal option as some of the reagents that are commonly used include ferric salts or lime. It ends up impeding sludge treatment, making it an ineffective option in any wastewater that also has organic materials.

4. Ion Exchange

Ion exchangers replace calcium and magnesium with sodium ions. The process starts by passing wastewater through an anionic exchange resin that replaces the anions with hydrogen and hydroxide ions and creates molecules of water and then introduces sulfuric or hydrochloric acid.

The ion exchange resin layers are usually set below the flow of water. They can end up getting clogged, which isn’t ideal and needs to be addressed or you’ll end up with a malfunctioning ion exchange.

5. Membrane Filtration

Ultrafiltration uses membranes to filter out inorganic materials. Wastewater is pushed through the filters using pressure. It’s an effective system, but it does reduce water pressure. It’s ideal for filtering colloidal and dissolved materials.

6. Reverse Osmosis

Reserve osmosis requires wastewater to pass through a semipermeable membrane at high pressure, and that pressure is created using a pump. This causes contaminants within the wastewater to dissolve and separate from the water. The clean water continues flowing, but the contaminants are trapped in the membrane. This system is one you often see in homes.

Work With an Expert in Clean Water to Get Desired Results

Effective inorganic material removal starts with the right equipment. Lakeside Equipment has been designing, installing, upgrading, and maintaining water treatment solutions since 1928. We have close to a century of experience consulting with water treatment engineers, managers, and operators to ensure equipment does everything they need.

When you upgrade your wastewater system to meet new guidelines or need to improve your system’s efficiency or capacity, it’s important to work with a wastewater treatment specialist who can implement upgrades that meet your requirement without greatly increasing your budget. People in your district won’t appreciate a giant increase in their water bills, so you have to carefully plan upgrades and take advantage of grants.

Reach our experts by phone or online. Our online contact form is available 24/7 and makes it easy to get hold of Lakeside Equipment’s experts.

When the Clean Water Act took effect in 1972, regulations came into play that kept untreated wastewater out of streams, rivers, lakes, seas, and oceans. Why was this necessary? Prior to the act, some rivers in the U.S. were so polluted that they were deemed unsafe for recreational activities like swimming or fishing.

Contaminated water led to toxins in the fish people ate. That’s why there are limits on how much seafood you can safely consume today. Plus, it was changing the water sources. Harmful bacteria and algae thrive in some polluted bodies of water.

Today, wastewater treatment plants must hold Clean Water Act permits. Before any wastewater returns to a body of water, it must be cleaned. This includes water that goes into a city’s storm drains, water from sewers, and water that’s trucked in by companies that pump out residential septic tanks.

A Brief Look at the Clean Water Act

While the Clean Water Act wasn’t enacted until 1972, it actually dates back to the 1940s. The Federal Water Pollution Control Act put standards in place to help improve the quality of water sources like rivers, lakes, and oceans. It was completely revised and renamed in 1972 and became officially known as the Clean Water Act.

The basis of that act was to make it illegal to discharge any wastewater from a “point source” (container, drainage ditch, pipe, tunnel, etc.) into a water source without a permit. This included manufacturers, waste treatment plants, cities, and towns.

The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit goes to companies who have the technology and procedures in place to limit bacteria and other pollutants from water that is discharged. To ensure companies are following the guidelines, random samples are taken from time to time and tested. These permits last five years.

Businesses and industries that hold an NPDES permit have 126 pollutants that must be monitored. Of that number, 65 of them are considered “priority” pollutants. These pollutants could be issues to humans or to the plants and creatures living in the many bodies of water throughout the U.S. Here’s an example of some of the priority toxins:

• Arsenic
• Asbestos
• Cadmium
• Chloroform
• Cyanide
• Methyl mercury

Despite the changes over the years, many bodies of water in the U.S. still deal with pollution. From 1990 to 1994, the Environmental Working Group reports that the Mississippi River had more than 702 million pounds of toxic materials released into the river. More than 35 million pounds were released into the Pacific Ocean from three of the West Coast states. The Ohio River was next with more than 22 million pounds. It’s clear there is still work to be done.

How Is Wastewater Cleaned?

Many decades ago, mixing raw sewage into a water source was an effective way to purify that wastewater. The bacteria and creatures in the water would eat the organic matter. As the population increased, there was too much waste for this process to be effective. That’s why water treatment plants developed.

The first stage in a water treatment process involves separating large items like paper, sticks, and plastic items from the liquid. Screens capture the larger items and allow the remaining wastewater through to the next stage. Trash rakes remove those items from the screens to prevent clogs. Wastewater goes into a grit removal system to separate the smaller particles like sand and small stones and aerate the remaining wastewater.

After grit is removed, the wastewater goes to a sedimentation tank to help further remove sediment. It goes through a filter and is aerated more with waste falling to the bottom and the aerated water going out through the effluent pipe. Eventually, chlorine is added to kill any remaining bacteria. Depending on state laws, the chlorine may need to be removed prior to going back into a water source.

For 90 years, Lakeside Equipment Corporation has specialized in water purification systems. The companies original goal was to ensure people had safe drinking water in their cities and towns. Since then, expansion has led to water and wastewater treatment solutions in all of North America and many other countries around the globe. What are your water treatment goals? Call us at 630-837-5640 to talk to a specialist about water treatment solutions that fit your budget and needs.

There’s a growing problem facing Americans. An estimated 44 million Americans lack adequate water systems with many facing violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act. Add to this the scarcity of water that’s become caused by droughts across the nation. 

California is one of many states where industrial use of the water in aquifers or industrial drilled wells has created problems for the local homeowners relying on their own wells for household water. Even with snow and rain helping boost some reservoirs, supply has to keep up with demand, and that’s not happening.

To get ahead of these issues, water treatment facilities and researchers keep working on finding innovative ways to improve water treatment processes. The more water that gets reused over and over, the less demand there is for the water in lakes, rivers, aquifers, and reservoirs. Water treatment needs to be efficient, affordable, and precise, and that’s where the future is leading us. Check out some of the most recent innovations.

Technologies and Advancements That Are Driving Improvements in Water Treatment

L’Oreal announced that 100% of the water used in its industrial plants will be recycled. That’s a start. But, science and research are equally important in changing the future of water treatment and reuse.

1. Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI is a great way to optimize water treatment processes to save energy and constantly monitor for higher levels of contaminants. If pumps need to be adjusted or things like chlorine need to be increased to ensure the water is clean enough, AI makes it happen. 

This technology can track and adjust flow rates through filtration. AI can also predict adsorption processes all day and night, which removes the risk of human error in the different water treatment steps.

2. Cellulose Fibers

Purifying water using cellulose powder is one option that’s being studied. Tiny particles of cellulose capture pollutants. So far, studies have found that the pollutants are removed at an 80% removal rate. There is room for improvement, but it’s a start.

3. Cleaning-in-Place Filters

Reverse osmosis cartridges have been used in plants and homes across the country to help clean water. Once a cartridge has been used up, it has to be disposed of. In some plants, there can be thousands of reverse osmosis cartridge filters, so that’s a lot of trash generation.

A company in Canada came up with a chemical cleaner that cleans cartridge filters so that they can be used again and again. It reduces plastic pollution, lowers plant costs by eliminating the need for downtime while filter cartridges are changed, and lowers the costs of new filters.

4. Electrodialysis

Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology have been looking at the use of electricity to shock water clean, similar to the methods used to pasteurize foods. Low-level electric pulses are introduced to contaminated water to help remove pathogens and other contaminants without the need for chemicals. The electric pulses are introduced to a membrane that kills bacteria faster than traditional water treatment processes.

5. Membrane Filtration

Membrane filtration helps clean water quickly and effectively, and reverse osmosis is one type of membrane filtration that’s seeing improvements. Closed-Circuit Reverse Osmosis (CCRO), Forward Osmosis (FO), Membrane Distillation (MD), and Osmotically Assisted Reverse Osmosis are each worth a closer look.

• CCRO – Water is recirculated at low pressure, which cuts energy use and requires less membrane filtration materials.
• FO – Water moves through a semipermeable membrane using osmotic pressure.
• MD – Water moves through a hydrophobic membrane to separate into two forms – liquid and vapor.
• OARO – This form of reverse osmosis draws the water from brine, making it an ideal choice for turning ocean water into drinking water.

Membrane filtration can be costly and use a lot of energy. That’s where the company Elateq started when doing its research. Elated’s experts developed a one-step filtration system that uses 90% less energy by using a carbon material and low levels of electricity to clean contaminants like heavy metals, pathogens, and chemicals from water. The company’s patented filtration system is being tested in PepsiCo.

6. Microbial Biofilm

The use of microbial biofilm is being studied to find ways to clean water without the use of chemicals. Metabolic Network Reactor (MNR) technology taps into the way aquatic plants clean water and establishes a microbial microfilm that mimics how plants’ roots clean the water. The “roots” draw in the contaminants, leaving the clean water behind.

Travelers going through Vermont may have encountered the wastewater treatment plant at the Sharon rest stop. That entire restroom facility uses plants to clean the wastewater from the bathrooms. The plants grow on the wastewater and the cleaned water returns to the toilets for reuse. Microbial biofilm follows the same idea of using the plants’ roots to remove bacteria and other contaminants.

8. Nanotechnology

Nanoparticles are gaining increased interest when it comes to cleaning PFAs from wastewater. While PFAs are designed to avoid reactions with high temperatures and many chemicals, they’re very hard to clean from wastewater. But, scientists have seen success in removing PFAs with the use of engineered nanoparticles. The nanoparticles are coated with sorbents and draw PFAs to them like magnets.

9. Reusable PFA Filters

Forever chemicals and PFAs have become a concern in the U.S. Short-term PFAs can be toxic, so their removal from drinking water is important. Filters to remove the PFAs are needed, but the cost to continually replace filters is a concern. Plus, the incineration of the filtration materials that captured the PFAs would just release those PFAs back into the environment.

A team of scientists came up with a bead that filters PFAs, but it can be washed clean for reuse. Filling a cartridge filter with these beads presents the option for a filter that can be used multiple times without decreasing its effectiveness.

10. Solar (UV) Water Disinfection

Most people who grew up on city water know the smell and taste of the chlorine that’s used to purify water. Times are changing and solar water disinfection is trending. Instead of relying on chemicals, UV light is used to disinfect the water. Some plants pair lower levels of chemicals with UV light that helps the chemicals break down quickly leaving nothing but clean, odor-free water.

11. Water Recycling

Reusing water is going to be the way of the future. Wastewater treatment plants should look at the benefits of establishing a plant that takes wastewater, cleans it, forwards it to a water treatment plant, and purifies it for household use.

Partner With an Expert to Find Innovations That Fit Your Needs

Lakeside Equipment is nearing 100 years of helping make water clean and safe for people. We’ve been experts in water treatment and wastewater treatment facilities since 1928. Our experts work with you to figure out clean water solutions that match your budget and facility size. Reach us online to find out how you can take steps to embrace water treatment innovation.